"Notes on Tiger Tanks in the Battle for
Florence" from Intelligence Bulletin

The January 1945 issue of the
Intelligence Bulletin
contained a five page report on the German Tiger tanks encountered by
New Zealand troops in the fighting around Florence, Italy. Printed by
the Military Intelligence Service during WWII, the
Intelligence Bulletin
was designed to inform junior officers and enlisted men of the
latest enemy tactics and weapons.

[DISCLAIMER: The following text is taken from the U.S. War Department Intelligence Bulletin
publication. As with all wartime intelligence information, data may be incomplete or inaccurate. No
attempt has been made to update or correct the text. Any views or opinions expressed do not
necessarily represent those of the website.]

NOTES ON TIGER TANKS IN THE BATTLE FOR FLORENCE

In the battle for Florence, a New Zealand division had its
first experience with standard Tiger tanks on a fairly large
scale, and noted several useful points about the ways in which
the Germans employed these vehicles.

As a rule, the Tigers were well sited and well camouflaged
with natural foliage. To delay the New Zealand infantry and to
pick off tanks, the Tigers were used in hull-down positions. Another
enemy method was to send Tigers by covered routes to
previously selected positions. From these positions the Germans
would fire a few harassing rounds, withdraw, and move
to alternate positions. Tigers also were used to provide close
support for German infantry, to lend additional fire power to
artillery concentrations, and to engage buildings occupied by
the New Zealanders. These troops noted that almost invariably
a Tiger would be sited with at least one other tank or a
self-propelled gun in support. The supporting tank or gun would
remain silent unless its fire was absolutely needed. Sometimes
a Tiger would be accompanied by infantrymen — often only 6
to 12 of them — deployed on the flanks as far as 50 yards away
from the tank.

The New Zealanders were of the opinion that the Tiger's
heavy front and rear armor made it unlikely that the tank would
be knocked out by hits on these parts. Simultaneous frontal and
flank attacks were considered desirable. The New Zealanders
found the Tigers' side armor definitely vulnerable to fire from
17-pounders. Other weak spots, it was reported, were the rear
of the tank, just over the engines, and the large exhaust hole,
also in the rear and just over the left of center. Some commanders
found high explosives the most effective ammunition
against these rear parts.

This is a standard Tiger tank — or,
as the Germans designate it,Pz. Kpfw. Tiger. (The Roman numeral "VI" has
been dropped.)

As a rule, the Tigers were placed in position so skillfully that
the New Zealanders found it difficult to employ a sniping anti-tank
gun or a towed gun for stalking purposes. Unless very careful
reconnaissance was carried out to site the gun to the best
advantage, and so as to detect German supporting tanks or
self-propelled guns, the effort was likely to be fruitless. For
this reason, the New Zealanders concluded that maximum time
for reconnaissance, and the maximum amount of information, were
essential for a battery commander who was called upon to
engage a Tiger. The German tank-and-gun combination seemed
to be slow at maneuvering and firing, and also very susceptible
to blinding by U.S. 75-mm smoke ammunition. On one
occasion, two smoke rounds, followed by armor-piercing projectiles,
were enough to force a Tiger to withdraw.

Sometimes the Germans used their Tigers with marked recklessness, the
crews taking risks to an extent which indicated their
extreme confidence in their vehicles. This rendered the latter
vulnerable to New Zealand tank-hunting squads armed with
close-range antitank weapons. When Tigers were closed down, and
were attacking on their own at some distance from their
supporting guns, the tanks' vulnerability to those close-range
weapons was increased correspondingly.

Tigers were effectively knocked out, or were forced to withdraw, by
concentrations of field artillery. It was clear that German
tank crews feared the damaging effect of shell fire against
such vital parts as tracks, suspension, bogie wheels, radio aerials,
electrical equipment, and so on. The New Zealanders incorporated
medium artillery in several of their artillery concentrations, and
decided that medium pieces were suitable when
a sufficiently large concentration could be brought to bear. However,
owing to a dispersion of rounds, it was considered preferable
to include a good concentration of field guns, to "thicken
up" the fire. The division in question had no experience in using
heavy artillery against Tigers.

It was admittedly difficult to locate stationary, well camouflaged
Tigers which had been sited for defensive firing. Worth
mentioning, however, is the performance of an artillery observation
post, which was notified by Allied tanks that a Tiger was
believed to be in a certain area. The observation post began to
range. A round falling in the vicinity of the suspected tank
blasted away the vehicle's camouflage, and the Tiger promptly
retreated.

Several of the New Zealand antitank gunners' experiences in
combating Tigers will be of special interest:

1. A Tiger was observed about 3,000 yards away, engaging
three Shermans. When it set one of the Shermans afire, the
other two withdrew over a crest. A 17-pounder was brought up
to within 2,400 yards of the Tiger, and engaged it from a flank. When
the Tiger realized that it was being engaged by a high-velocity
gun, it swung around 90 degrees so that its heavy frontal
armor was toward the gun. In the ensuing duel, one round hit
the turret, another round hit the suspension, and two near-short
rounds probably ricocheted into the tank. The tank was
not put out of action. The range was too great to expect a kill;
hence the New Zealanders' tactics were to make the Tiger expose
its flank to the Shermans at a range of almost 500 yards, by
swinging around onto the antitank gun. The Tiger did just this,
and, when it was engaged by the Shermans, it withdrew. The
enemy infantry protection of half a dozen to a dozen men was
engaged by machine guns.

2. At the junction of a main road and a side road, a Tiger
was just off the road, engaging forward troops in buildings.
Another Tiger, about 50 yards up the side road, was supporting
the first. A field-artillery concentration was called for. It appeared
to come from one battery only. Although no hits were
observed, both Tigers withdrew.

3. A Tiger on a ridge was engaged by what appeared to be
a battery of mediums. After the first few rounds had fallen, the
crew bailed out. (It is not known why.) Shortly afterward, while
the tank still was being shelled, a German soldier returned
to the tank and drove it off. About 10 minutes later, the remainder
of the crew made a dash along the same route their tank had taken.

4. A tank hidden in the garage of a two-story house ventured
out for about 20 yards, fired a few harassing rounds, and returned
to its shelter. Many hits on the building were scored
by 4.2-inch mortars firing cap-on, but little damage was visible. Each
night the tank was withdrawn from the area, even though
it was in an excellent concealed position and was protected by
infantry. Later the house was examined. Although it had suffered
appreciable damage — and there were several dead Germans
about there was no evidence that damage had been done
to the tank itself.

The events described are from the fighting by the 2nd New Zealand Division
to capture the Paula Line which was defended in part by the s.Pz.Abt. 508 equipped
with the Tiger I. Florence was finally captured by the British XIII Corps
on August 4, 1944. For more information on s.Pz.Abt. 508 and Tiger tank
losses to artillery, see the unit history, Combat History of schwere
Panzer-Abteilung 508, Kurt Hirlinger, editor, J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, 2001.
The Tiger tank illustrated is actually from 2.Ko. of s.Pz.Abt. 504 and was
destroyed in Sicily in July 1943. Additional images of Tiger tanks destroyed or
captured by New Zealand troops in Italy are online
at National Library of New Zealand Timeframes.
See Also:
German Tiger Tank in Allied Intelligence,
German Heavy Tank — PzKw 6,
New German Heavy Tank,
Vulnerability of Tiger Tanks